Monday, 31 October 2011

The Pitts S 1 is a very small aeroplane. The wingspan is 17 feet 4 inches (5.28 m), the length is 15 feet 6 inches (4.72 m) and the wing area is 98 square feet (9,15 square metres). Its empty weight is 720 pounds (326 Kg) and its maximum weight is 1,115 pounds (521 Kg). It has a rate of roll of 400 degrees per second.

The photos are from the Keith Morris collection unless otherwise noted.Our third Pitts S1 was Max Clear's ZK-EES (c/n AACA/28/1) which was another Pitts out of the Hamilton area. It was built with 2 ailerons so I think it was a S 1C. It was first registered on 21/8/75 and it is photo'd here at the 1977 AACA flyin at Masterton.

It was sold to an Auckland syndicate of Owen Harnish, S P Taylor, Richard Hood and M Waring on 11/5/83. It is is photo'd here at the 1989 National Aerobatic Championships at Waipukurau. It was rebuilt in 1994 with a 180 HP engine, and I guess it was rebuilt with 4 ailerons as photo'd below.

Finally it was sold to Darrell Brown of New Plymouth on 5/2/06, and it now operates with Taranaki Flight Tech Ltd markings. It is photo'd here at the 2011 Brian Langley Memorial aerobatic competition at North Shore Airfield on 15/1/11.

Our fourth Pitts was ZK-EEU (c/n AACA/24/1) which was built by Keith Trillo of Auckland and was first registered on 2/10/75. Its first flight was in January 1978. It is photo'd here at the 1978 AACA flyin at Nelson. I do not have a record of who took this photo but it clearly shows that it has 4 ailerons so it is probably a S 1D model.

ZK-EEU spent nearly all its life owned by Keith Trillo. It is photo'd here at the 1981 AACA flyin at Mt Hutt. It was sold to the Southern Pitts Syndicate at Mandeville and is currently on rebuild.

And our fifth Pitts S1 was ZK-KEM (c/n AACA/404) which was built by Kurt Maluschnig of Levin. I do not have a record of who took this photo, or where, but it shows it to be a S 1D model with 4 ailerons.

It is photo'd here at its Foxpine base in late 1980 where it now sports a white flash at the junction of the fuselage and rudder. I think this was to hide a repair when the aircraft possibly overturned early on in its life. Kurt sold ZK-KEM to Ray Patchett and Rex Handley of Blenhiem on 9/10/85, then it was sold to the Ashburton Aerobatic Syndicate on 13/8/86, but it didn't last long with them as it was damaged at Ashburton on 27/1/87.

The damaged aircraft was sold to Anthony Stuart Clarke of Torbay, North Shore on 27/1/88 and it was cancelled on 1/2/99. However it was re-registered by Mr Clarke, now of Warkworth, on 6/8/04 and it was based at North Shore Airfield. Finally it was sold to Neil Jepsen of Palmerston North on 4/4/09. It is based at Feilding Aerodrome where I photo'd it on 1/1/11.

Sunday, 30 October 2011

I was most impressed with the collection of Fisher R 80 Tiger Moths posted by Blue Bus. To complete the set here is a photo of Jon Farmer's ZK-CCC taken at Matamata. I don't have a record of who took this photo. (I did see and photograph it in its hangar at Matamata in September 2007, but this is a better photo).

In my earlier post on Corby Starlets of New Zealand (2) I posted a photo of ZK-TNT at the 2010 Black Sands flyin and I commented that it was "part way through getting the Wilkinson treatment".And in a double take at North Shore airfield this afternoon ( 2 hangars, 2 yellow Starlets), the full extent of the Wilkinson treatment was revealed! A winter's worth of work by David Wilkinson and his father Don has resulted in Starlets ZK-TOY and ZK-TNT becoming like two peas in a pod! They will make a great sight at the 2011 Black Sands flyin in 2 weeks time.

ZK-JAL, ZK-LAS and ZK-NOX are powered by Suzuki G13B twin cam engines and drive through a Raven redrive unit. They also have Simplex digital engine management systems

Almost an "I remember when" view of all four on the ground. Spoiled by a Cherokee wing tip.
The number on their respective engine cowlings is the same as their c/n's, and the pseudo military serial numbers on the fuselage side are : NZ - for obvious reasons : R80 is the model number - 80% scale of the DH82, and the c/n is then repeated again.
There is a fifth example, ZK-CCC2, with Jon Farmer away up north, but it is currently being rebuilt with a larger engine following an accident.

Saturday, 29 October 2011

Two Robinson R44's captured on film at Heli Maintenance in Christchurch on Friday 28-10-2011.
Above is Raven 11 ZK-IGR (c/n 12262) listed with Helicopters South Canterbury since new from Skysales back in 2008. It carries the following script on the lower fuselage side.

Below is the Raven 11 ZK-ITZ (c/n 10827) of Helicontrax Ltd still wearing the "Jo Seager" scripts.
Notice also how the "Helicontrax" address is inside the lower front screen so that it appears in your photos taken from the front seat.

I have a feeling in my bones that this airframe is about to head off to the "Islands" to replace a recently bent example. Ben Walker has already another R44 on hand, having acquired ZK-HYF at the end of June.

Sir Minty has flicked me this photograph of the Mooney M20C Ranger ZK-MWP (c/n 680095) taken at North Shore on 24-10-2011.
The "68" in the c/n tells us the US year of manufacture = 1968; and it is the 95th of the 98 M20C's built that year. The M20C was a Mk21 with squared off windows and a new front windscreen.
This one popped onto the US register as N6790N and had some eleven owners before being cancelled on 18-05-2011 for its move to NZ where it was registered on 20-06-2011 to the Woodpecker Trust and almost immediately to Hans Holtz of Auckland.
Here is a video clip of it departing Cape May in New Jersey :-

Captured pulling into its parking sport at Taupo today was the Gulfstream GV-SP ZK-KFB2 (c/n 5260) as registered to ExecuJet New Zealand of Wellington.
It is Peter Jacksons 50th birthday with celebrations taking place at the Huka Lodge over the weekend, with a large number of friends and family due to attend.Thanks to Henry M for the photgraph and details.

The Piper PA18 Super Cub ZK-BTM (c/n 18-5972) was registered to Airwork (NZ) Ltd of Christchurch on 27-08-1957 and signed over to the New Plymouth Aaero Club on 28-04-1958.On 01-06-1964 it moved to M Todd of Heriot.
This photo shows it parked under the pine trees at Luggate on 27-12-1970. (The trees are still there - not so sure about the out house).

Pic below is one year later (27-12-1971) as seen at Wanaka.

It transferred to P J Garden & P N McHaffie at Waikaia on 28-08-1972 and then to the Southern Districts Aero Club at Gore on 27-02-1978.
Pic below was snapped at Oamaru on 04-11-1978.

The colour pic below is at Gore on 17-07-1983 with the Midget Mustang ZK-EDP alongside.

Then we see it at Christchurch on 21-12-1988.

It was blown from its pickets at Taieri in August of 1989, repaired by Avtek at Timaru and reflown in May of 1992. The view below shows it at Avtek on 08-02-1991.

It was damaged again on 06-01-1993 when it went off the end of the strip at Gore.
It then migrated to the Southland Aviation College in December of 1999 and to Southern Wings, with Ken Brunton featuring somewhere in here.
The Christchurch Flying School (2005) Ltd took it on from 30-10-2006 - with a name change to New Zealand Flying School on 21-07-2008. Photo below was at Wigram on 14-04-2008.

With the closure of the NZFS it went to Cronin Developments Ltd and was based at Rangiora from 06-07-2009. See a couple of previous blogs on this animal:-

Kevin Farmers Plane - Hence the ZK-KFP registration, is c/n 305, and was assembled by Aero Technology at Auckland and first registered on 20-01-2000. It was sold to Barry Wayne Ford of Hamilton on 01-03-2004 and then to the Pekamu Trust of Katikati on 13-12-2007. Its registration was cancelled on 25-10-2011 as exported, still with the same owner but now with a South Australian address.
The photo was captured at Rangiora on 10-04-2004.

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

The Pitts Special was designed by Curtis Pitts during 1943-44 and first flew in September 1944. It is widely accepted that the Pitts Special was the standard by which all other aerobatic aircraft were judged, and it reigned supreme until purpose-built monoplanes appeared on the aerobatic scene.

Limited numbers of aircraft were produced during the late 1940's and 1950's. Plans went on sale in 1962 and many homebuilt aircraft followed, including 8 homegrown S 1's in New Zealand (to date).

The original S1 was followed by the S 1C which was amatuer built and had 2 ailerons, the S 1D with 4 ailerons, the S 1E had symmetrical airfoils and the derivative S 1F had the Falcon wing modification with square wingtips and larger ailerons. The S 1S was factory built for competition and the S 1T was factory built with a 200 HP Lycoming motor.

The photos are from the Keith Morris collection unless otherwise noted.

New Zealand's first Pitts Special was ZK-DOH (c/n AACA/121) which was started in Hamilton (Hamilton was a hotbed of early Pitts Special activity), but was completed by Chris Pask of Hastings. It was a S 1C model with ailerons only on the bottom wings. It was first registered on 11/1/76 and it is photo'd here at the 1976 AACA flyin at Kaikohe. I remember my first sight of it when it took off obscured by other aircraft and rocketed into the sky! (This was in the time of Turbulents and Jodels). One neat touch added by Chris Pask was the embossed leather patches on either side of the cockpit.ZK-DOH was sold to Peggy Perry of Hamilton on 29/3/78 and it is shown here at the 1983 AACA fly-in at Paraparaumu.

It was then sold to Dennis Thompson International Ltd in 1983, who sold it to W Sneddon of Nelson on 9/5/84, and it was then sold to R E Turner, also of Nelson, on 12/11/84. It is photo'd above on 25/1/89 in a hangar at Nelson, by Blue Bus

It was then sold to Moss G Smith of Puriri near Thames on 8/9/89. It is photo'd here at the 1990 AACA fly-in at Waipukurau. It was damaged at Taupo on 20/2/90.

Moss Smith was a very keen aerobatic pilot and he rebuilt ZK-DOH as a S 1F model with the Falcon wing conversion as photo'd here at the NZ Aerobatic Championships at Waipukurau in 1991.

Moss Smith upgraded and repainted ZK-DOH to this blue colour scheme, as photo'd by Blue Bus at the 1994 AACA flyin at Paraparaumu.

It was finally sold to M R Smith of Inglewood on 24/10/95, and it was withdrawn on 1/7/02.

Our second Pitts Special has an interesting story. ZK-ECO (AACA/337/1)was commissioned by Tim Wallis and was mostly built by Bob Goding at Hamilton, and it was registered to him on 20/11/75. It was completed by Drake Aviation and was first flown on 1/5/83 by Keith Trillo (who had also built a Pitts). It was an S 1E model with the 4 ailerons. I do not have a record of who took the above photo or where it was taken (later advice that the photo was taken by Greybeard), but it must have been early on in its life as it does not have the Pitts Special logo on the tail.

Sadly it only flew a very few hours before being involved in a fatal accident on 24/5/85 while undertaking low level aerobatics at Beacon Point near Wanaka, killing its pilot (see comments below). The wreckage was returned to Hamilton and it was cancelled on 30/3/88. Thanks to Bob Goding for this photo (after a lot of tracking down).

But this was not the end of ZK-ECO! It reappeared again at Hamilton with a new constructors number (AACA/1061) after having been rebuilt by E C Roberts, and it was re-registered on 19/2/90. It was finally cancelled from the New Zealand register on 26/4/04 when it was sold to the UK as G-CCXK, where it is still current and painted in the same colours. Thanks to Philip Treweek for the above photo which was taken at Rukuhia on 24/8/97.